Tales of Team BRNZ
by CptPenguino
Summary: Before there was RWBY, there was BRNZ! A rag-tag group put together by Ozpin to become Beacon's elite Spec-ops team. But how will they survive the daunting initiation and what horrors await them in the Emerald forest? Action! Adventure! Mystery? All here in: Tales of Team BRNZ! (Not that great at intros I'll admit, but the writing's pretty good, I swear!) Rated M for language
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The trees whistled as a warm breeze blows throughout the lush, green, forest. The sun shone brightly in the cloudless blue sky and birds chirped as Robin came to rest in a tall oak tree. Clad in his regular attire, his rust coloured coat pressed the cool blades hidden within against his dull green undershirt. His dark brown hair glinted in the sunlight as he found himself lost in thought.

Truly it was a beautiful day. Quite the contrast to the situation he now found himself in. See, Robin had only three days left to live. Or, at least, so he thought…

Thinking back to what brought to him to his death —'initiation', the old man had called it—would only serve to bring him back to the night of his arrest. While Robin wasn't exactly the sneakiest of fellows—not like Nox of course—he considered himself at least a half-decent thief. There was no way that the cops could have known about the jewelry store job and their reaction time to the call was way too fast. It didn't take long for Robin to smell a rat.

"All that doesn't really matter now, does it?" He muttered to himself. While it may not matter anymore, something kept him stewing in the memory.

The underbrush nearby rustled, and Robin was dragged back into reality.

The beowolf wasn't very far from him when it gave away its position, give or take forty meters. Standing up, he leaned against the trunk of the tree as he took note the surrounding forest—soon to be a battleground. It seemed to be alone, no other big bad wolves in sight at least, and the trees gave Robin the advantage.

Deftly he hops from branch to branch, until he's just a few meters from his opponent. It was no bigger than any other beowolf he has fought since entering the forest. _Good he hasn't noticed me,_ the thought crept into his mind and he grinned to himself. _I should have a bit of fun with this one._

The time had come for a bit of entertainment. "Hey toothy!" Robin shouted as he leapt from the branches to the soft forest earth.

The beowolf turned and snarled, hurtling towards his location at an alarming speed. Robin stood his ground, unflinching, as it hastily closed the gap between them. As the beowolf leapt to take a nice big bite out of his face, it hit the razor wire that had been set by Robin not five minutes prior.

In an instant, the beowolf was split from its body into five pieces, and Robin was left feeling awed. "Didn't expect that to work honestly. Anyways, we should probably…split." He turned to see Nox's reaction, but was quickly reminded that he was alone. "Oh...right…"

The purple crystal in the middle of the rock attached to his belt started to glow. Robin was now realizing that shouting probably wasn't the smartest idea. "Shit…initiation."

The thought bore down on him. Robin climbed the tree closest to him and resumed moving towards nowhere, recalling the rules of the initiation the old man, Ozpin, had said to him before launching him into a random direction in the forest.

* * *

It was early dawn and the sun had just peeked its head over the horizon and the grandeur of the morning sun bathed Robin in spectacular display of yellow, rosy, and auburn light. It took all his concentration to focus on the message now beginning to play from his scroll: "You have been selected by displaying exceptional talents and abilities to become a special elite Huntsmen, but to make sure you are right for the role, and have the skills necessary for the job, you must pass a more," there was a slight pause as he thought of a suitable word, "difficult initiation than those Beacon generally uses to test their Huntsmen: You will be launched into the Emerald Forest with what gear you have. You then have 3 days to collect an artifact hidden somewhere in the forest,"

_That's not so hard_, Robin thought_, and it doesn't sound that unusual from what his sisters had told him._

"Of course just finding the artifact isn't enough to test your abilities; that would be to easy now, wouldn't it?"

_Here we go, the difficult part. He sure wants to take his sweet-ass time explaining. _

"Attached at all times to you will be an artifact that attracts the creatures of Grimm."

_There it is. _

"Should you survive and bring the artifact here to me, than you will be trained at Beacon as an elite Huntsmen. If you fail to do so, you will be left in the forest and will most likely meet an unfortunate end. Any questions?"

_Wait, what? Left in the forest? _

"Good," Ozpin continued before anyone could have asked, "then I hope to see you all try your best. Good luck."

And with that he was launched.

* * *

He finished his recollection as he came to the edge of a clearing. From where he crouched in the trees, he had a good view of a very not-so-good sight. In the middle of the clearing was a small white, marble pedestal surrounded by large pack of mean looking beowolves and a few ursai.

He scouted the surrounding area and sat back atop the tree. This seemed way too easy… It was still the afternoon of the first day and he had already found the artifact? Well, maybe luck was just on his side.

With that thought in mind he begins to formulate the plan.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Robin felt a tight giddiness in his chest that he hadn't felt since he was a little child. The plan he had come up with was absolutely brilliant! Normally, he wouldn't be one to boast about his plans, even to himself, yet this one time he had come up with something so stone cold brilliant, he couldn't help but feel excited.

Robin checked the battleground once more: no nevermores to deal with— _that's handy_—only two ursai still around which seem to be guarding the pedestal, and about 6 beowolves scattered throughout the clearing. Robin tightened his grip on the windmill shuriken he was going to use to dispatch the first ursa. He lowered his heart-rate and slowed his breathing. _You could do this,_ he thought. _Just like they taught back in the academy._ He raised his arm and took aim at his target.

Just as he was about to release the four foot, spinning blade of death, a crash came from the brush from twenty meters to his left: A colossal titan of a guy charged in, waving some sort of staff around to— quite poorly—try to keep the monsters at bay.

_Who the hell was this guy? And what the _hell_ is he thinking? I thought that I was alone in the forest? _

The man obviously had a very little clue what he was doing with that staff, as if he thought the crystal on top would somehow protect him. This idiot is going to become a meal if Robin didn't act quickly.

Well, there goes the plan.

The windmill sailed and took the heads of two beowolves clean off their dark shoulders. Robin leapt from the tress on to the back of one of the unsuspecting ursai, stabbing his daggers deep into its broad shoulders. The ursa swung around with livid force, trying to get this mystery assailant off its back to no avail.

Robin concentrated. He imagined the winds carrying the shuriken, the distance it had traveled, the direction it was going, and forced the winds to bow to his will and turn back. They obeyed and the giant shuriken made its return trip to the battle.

Suddenly the ursa keeled forward and Robin, caught unawares, was thrown forward off its back. Robin had expected something like this to happen eventually, and used the winds to turn himself midway to the ground. Catching the shuriken, he redirected the path towards the growling ursa without missing a beat. Another head rolled on to the forest floor.

One ursa, four wolves left.

He flips over beowolf's swipe, and two knives swiftly enter the back of its legs. The dark beast falls and Robin put a throwing axe clean through his charging buddy's skull. The beast in front of Robin roars and tried to swipe again at him. He deftly dodged, lunged, and snapped the monster's neck.

The remaining ursa charged towards him, giving Robin little time to think on his feet. He tried to back away to give himself more time but is hit from behind by a beowolf's clawed swipe. _That's where the other one was._

Sent forward by the blow, the oncoming ursa knocked Robin to the ground hard. The force of the ground hitting him knocked the breath out of him. Robin looked up at the menacing creature before him about to have a nice Robin chow mien…and smirked.

As the shuriken and kunai thrown earlier sank deep into the ursa's back. Robin pulled himself under its legs with the wire he had attached to the axe that was embedded into the skull of the dead beowolf laying limp behind it. The ursa turned and roared, and was subsequently silenced when the second throwing axe caught it in the mouth.

Two left.

Calmly he walked towards the dead ursa and drew his special daggers. He had stolen these from some wealthy collector on the upper-east end of Vale. They had intricate hilts, curving inwards with two spikey looking things on each side to form the hilt guard. They didn't appear to have been made in Vale, or even from this time period for that matter. Their blades were black and curved outward, mirroring the hilt, with an interesting star-like tip. They didn't have much for sentimental value—besides his first successful robbery with Nox—but were swanky as hell, and were the sharpest tools in his repertoire.

The wolves howled and made their approach with visible sense of unease, slowing to study this walking blade of death. Robin ran first and as the wolves lunged, he jumped and turned midair. He caught the first wolf with the dagger, piercing its lungs, and caught the other with his foot, which just so happened to have a blade hidden there. The growl turned into a gurgle as the blade sliced through its throat. Robin finished both off with a quick stab to the temple, and with that, all the beasts lay dead

Robin slowly rose and faced towards the shining marble pedestal; his reward for overcoming what seemed like a small army of Grimm awaited. It was at that moment everything in front of him went dark and the sun seemed to be erased from the sky. Robin spun around, trying to find the source of the disturbance, and came face-to-chest with a titan.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Bron went over his contingency plan. He didn't like forests; he always wanted to be able to see everything. _Spent too much time in the desert_, he figured. Ozpin had never said anything about a forest. Yet, through their earlier correspondence, he had learned to expect the unexpected when it came to Ozpin.

What he had expected was a challenge, but this? Find this object in a big area, things will be hunting you down at every moment, you have 3 days. Sounded exactly like his days as a bounty hunter. It was going to be a cakewalk.

The bushes to the right of him rustled, and, out of the corner of his eye, Bron could see the glowing red eyes of a Grimm. A low growl could be heard as the beowolf tried its best at stealth, stalking its prey. Bron swiftly drew _Eta_ and put a bullet directly between its eyes, without hesitation and not 1cm off center. The beowolf was dead before it even knew it had been detected.

_Now where was I? Oh yes, the back-up plan_. As much as Bron hated the forest he needed a way to at least escape in the event that the initiation wasn't completed. From what he saw when he was launched—what was that about anyway?—the forest seemed to stretch into various parts of the continent. Finding an escape route to the city or at least to some sort of settlement would prove difficult seeing as Bron was more suited to a—well—more open environment.

Damn he hated the forest.

Bron walked through the brush into a small clearing, coming face to face with a few large Grimm.

Now let's run by the list:

-One large looking Ursa? Check.

-Two mean looking Beowolves? Double Check.

-One handsome Hero, with dashing good looks, and a two shiny pistols? Better believe that's a Check.

We got the makings of a rumble.

"You boys wouldn't have happened to have seen a nice lookin' artifact round these parts, would ya?" Bron quite politely asked the tall, shadowy, creatures. They stared intensely at his belt, which held a nice looking hunk of rock with a glowing purple crystal. "Nah, nah, fellas, see I already _have_ this one! I guess I can find this on my own then, thanks. Now, no need to get up, I'll just leave you gentlemen to it." The ursa roared. "Alright, ladies! No need to fuss about it!"

They charged.

Bron noticed the ursa was up front, so, needing the extra fire power, he reached behind his back to pull out _Lambda_ instead of his pistols. The sawn-off fired quickly into the oncoming Grimm and blew half its head on to the rest of the approaching enemies. Bron reached for _Iota _and rolled to the left as the beowolf took a swing. A bullet pierced its temple, and it crumpled with a 4 inch-wide hole on the other side of its head.

Switching _Lambda_ to mace-mode in one hand, he used _Iota_ to blow the knee off the other storming beowolf. With Mace-_Lambda_ firmly in hand, Bron side-stepped and liberated the crippled Grimm of its head.

The crystal faded to a dull violet as Bron looked around and saw no Grimm left in the area.

He really hated these forests.

Bron checked his surroundings. Despite the mess of Grimm now stacked to his left, the clearing he was in made a nice camp spot. And the clearing was in a big dip in the forest, so, despite lack of vision due to the trees and hillside, it was less likely to be noticed by passing Grimm.

Well, besides the stupid glowing fossil thing on his hip. _Whatever,_ he thought, _I'm just complaining._ The sun had dipped below the tree line and now bathed the treetops with a nice orange glow. This is where he'd setup camp for the night.

* * *

Night was upon the forest and the blackness of it seemed to suffocate Bron. He loved seeing the stars and the moon at night, but when he looked up, all he saw was a canopy of the dark treetops high above that now blocked his view. The same could be said for his surroundings; nought but darkness encircled his small camp. Bron was used to seeing anything for miles, even in the darkness of the night.

Man, he _really_ hated this forest.

The small fire he had lit made a small, flickering border around his camp. He knew it was risky, but it was his only method of keeping warm during the cold desert nights. Besides, he wasn't necessarily worried about the Grimm anymore. A small piece of cloth from a special shroud he'd taken from a dead bounty seemed to be enough to dampen the effects of the Grimm artifact. So he could rest easy.

But—like he said—it wasn't Grimm he was worried about.

Bron had suspected he wasn't alone, and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw what appeared to be a giant spinning blade go flying above the treetops when he was setting up camp. There were others in this forest, also probably trying to get the artifact.

Things had gotten a bit more interesting.

Unfortunately that meant little sleep was to be had, as the consequence of a fire was to stay up to make sure no one else saw it. But sleep slowly crept up on Bron anyway; his eyes started droop and he stifled a yawn. He shook his head. _I _must_ stay awake! _He ordered himself._ Who knows what else is out there?_

As if in answer to his question, the smallest hint of a creak was made north-west of where Bron sat. His eyes, adjusted to the light as they were, saw only a small glint of the firelight off metal from somewhere in the trees. But that was enough. Bron reached for his pistol.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Bron rolled and fired into the tree. The sound of bullets hitting wood could be heard as two arrows pierced the ground where Bron had been sitting. His eyes adjusted enough to the darkness for him to see a shadow moving among the branches as another arrow streaked towards him. He managed to shoot the shaft, sending the arrow off-course.

"You're going to have to do better than that, sneak thief!" Bron yelled at his assailant. Suddenly the fire went out. Bron realized the arrow had been a distraction.

He could feel his assailant's eyes on him as he searched the surrounding darkness for a sign of their location. The sign came as noise behind him—the sound of a bow being drawn—Bron spun and raised his pistol to his attacker's neck; against his own he could feel the tip of an arrowhead.

Stalemate.

He looked down the arrow's shaft and met his attacker's eyes. The bright orange eyes studied him—as Bron was doing himself—but the rest of his features were obscured by a mask. His hood stopped above his eyes—probably so he could see—and it looked like his dark clothes probably obscured other weapons. They seemed to fit him loosely, as to not make any noise and to further hide his build.

If things came to a hand-to-hand fight, Bron was at a disadvantage.

"Well then, looks to me like we're in a good 'ole fashioned 'Vaccuo Standoff'." Bron tried to keep his voice calm.

"My father would call it a stalemate," his opponent countered. His voice was quiet but tense. "He also said the only way out of one is with words."

"Well said," Bron agreed. "So let's start with some questions: who are you?"

"My name is Nox Vulpes, and yourself?"

"Bron, Bron Solitario. Your turn for a question; I'll keep things fair."

Nox thought for a second, then asked, "Why are you in the forest?"

A fair question. He's been asking himself this since stepping—sorry, being **launched**—into this forest.

"I'm here to retrieve an artifact for a benefactor—nothing more, nothing less." Bron offered. _The less this Nox guy knows, the better._

"Is this benefactor an old man named Ozpin?" Nox pressed.

_Well shit. At least that clears up any suspicion I had of others finding looking for the artifact. "_Perhaps... Are you lookin' for this artifact as well?" Bron asked.

"It seems we share a common goal," Nox stated, "But from what I understand, there's only one artifact, meaning only one can leave the forest."

"A fair assumption, but you may be thinking a bit too far ahead," Bron tapped Nox's chin with the barrel of _Iota_, "How 'bout we focus on what's right under our noses?"

Nox seemed to like that, as his mask seemed to move into what Bron imagined was a smile. "Fair enough, I offer a temporary truce. We could cover more ground with two people. Also you don't seem to know your way around a forest." Bron raised an eyebrow, unsure if Nox was making an observation or a jab. "Well, I can help with that. I've spent more than my fair share of time in forests. And once we find the artifact, we can settle our fight. Winner keeps the artifact and passes the initiation, while the loser… well… dies. What do you say?"

The air felt heavy as Bron pondered the offer. _How can I trust this guy won't just kill me in my sleep? He did just try to kill me not five minutes ago. Although, he's right_—_as much as I hate working with others_—_this alliance would give me an advantage over any others who could also be looking for the artifact. _

"What's keeping you from just killing me in my sleep?" Bron inquired.

Nox looked at him with disgust. _Seems this guy at least has some morals._

"I can't be the only one out of the two of us who's curious to see who would win in a fair fight," Nox answered.

He was right, Bron _was_ curious. Nox moved unlike any person he'd ever seen. In a fair fight, Bron really didn't know who would win. The thought scared and excited him. _You know what? Fuck it, let's do this._

"Alright, I accept."

Nox watched him for a moment, then nodded. That hint of a smile reappeared on his mask.

Bron felt something... off. The arrowhead slowly moved away from his throat as Nox relaxed his bow—Bron lowered his pistol as well—but it wasn't the thought of being killed that seemed odd. Something was bugging him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. His eyes drifted away from Nox's when he noticed a slight glow in the thief's greys.

Nox's eyes suddenly grew wide as he drew his bow and aimed it at Bron's head. Bron raised _Iota_ again. His finger itched on the trigger as he wondered why Nox suddenly decided to abandon the truce.

Then he realised.

He could see the glowing red eyes behind Nox. Nox let the arrow fly and it hit the beowolf behind Bron. He aimed his pistol at the beowolf and fired a salvo into its chest. Nox yelped and covered his head as the gun went off right next to his head.

"Shit! Sorry, man!" He helped his new ally to his feet.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, it's just, so…_loud_." Nox said, shaking his head as if to clear it. Bron tried to not notice the tremors running through the man's body; it wasn't an uncommon response, but no one liked other people pointing it out.

He laughed. "Well you sure took it like a champ. First time that happened to me I nearly crie-" He saw Nox's eyes were tearing up, "uhhh never mind. Can I see your Grimm artifact?" Nox shimmied over and pulled out the rock with a small purple crystal in the middle. Bron tore up another piece of the special cloth and wrapped it around the rock similarly to what he did to his own. _Almost half gone. _

"There you go, my very own Grimm-B-Gone!" Bron declared, with a grin.

"Wait, really? What does it do?" Nox asked, incredulous.

"Well…I have absolutely no idea how it works, but since doing that I've had far less problems with Grimm," Bron responded. "Now then, let's re-make the camp that _you_ fucked up."

"Hey now! This was going to be my campsite,_ you_ just happened to steal it!" Nox replied, accusingly.

"Well, as the old Vaccuo saying goes: Finders keepers, losers weepers," Bron countered with a smirk. "Once we're done, I'll take the first watch. I'll wake you up in a few hours. Fair?"

"Fair," Nox agreed.

And with that, their partnership was sealed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Zaffrey studied his new partner as they ate their charred rabbit. Robin wasn't really that tall, but he had fought effectively against the Grimm. He wore a rust coloured coat that reached to his mid-thigh with an olive coloured shirt underneath. The jacket had an interesting collar: it covered the back of his neck and had two clips in the front that looked like it could clip into a full collar, but apparently he chose to leave it open with the un-clipped sides hanging free beside his neck. The black pants he wore matched the roughed up grey sneakers on his feet.

He had a skin that was almost white, but with just a hint of brown that suggested some sort of a cultural background. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to see everything all at once, with a head of dark brown hair that spiked to the right with a curious streak of blonde in the front.

When he moved there was a slight—yet distinct—clinking noise that suggested he had more weapons hidden within his clothing, which had been proven with the fight with the Grimm when he seemed to pull knives and blades out of nowhere. Zaffrey thought back to that battle massacre.

* * *

Zaffrey had just managed to outrun some beowolves when he crashed through some bushes and into a clearing…with more beowolves. He had just "re-designed" his weapon not two days ago, so he was still a little unsure how it worked. At first they hadn't noticed him, but the glowing rock in his pocket made sure that they quickly looked his way.

Two of the lesser beowolves started to move towards him. Now if he had been his old self, Zarko would have walked up to the beowolves without fear and crushed both their heads like pumpkins. _But I'm not my old self,_ Zaffrey thought.

He frantically waved his old butchered weapon at the monsters, trying to desperately remember what the old man had told him about how to use his _new _staff. He was two paces from being forced to use violence when a giant spinning blade graced the necks of the two approaching beowolves, sending their heads toppling to the ground.

Robin soared from one of the trees and somehow landed on one of the ursai despite the large gap between the trees and his opponent. The way he fought was graceful and effective. All Zaffrey could do was stand in awe as Robin flipped, spun, and eliminated his enemies with such tact that he had only seen in battled-hardened tacticians_._ It didn't take long before all the Grimm were absolutely eviscerated.

Zaffrey approached his savior. Standing up, Robin reached only about up to his chest, which wasn't surprising as Zaffrey was about 8 feet tall. Robin was visibly startled, especially when his shoulders were grabbed with massive hands.

"You have saved my life, friend," Zaffrey's voiced boomed, "and for that I am in your debt." He knelt, bowed his head and covered his heart in the Mistral salute.

Robin was dumbstruck, and looked as if a beowolf had suddenly turned gold and grown wings, "I…uhh…uhh…_ahem_… you're welcome?"

"If it be your will, I would like to accompany you to repay this debt," Zaffrey proposed.

Robin shook his head and composed himself, "Whoa whoa whoa hold up a second, quick question: why are you in the forest? Are you a part of the initiation?" He pressed.

Zaffrey stood, "I am searching for an artifact for a man named Ozpin. Only then will I pass the initiation and become a huntsmen."

Robin's eyes lit up, "Artifact!"

He strode past Zaffrey to his reward: the shining white pedestal in the middle of the clearing. Zaffrey had only noticed now; It was a small—well, by Zaffrey's standards—pedestal that seemed to reach up to about his waist, the base had started growing moss—which was odd considering the location was not nearly damp enough to grow moss—while the top only held a small, taped note. It read:

Sorry, but your artifact is on another pedestal!

-O

This didn't seem to sit well with Robin. He yelled, cursed, and may have kicked an ursa head in his rage. After he had seemed to have calmed down, Zaffrey re-stated his proposal.

"Well, can you fight?" Robin asked, impatiently.

"I'd prefer not too; I believe in refraining myself from violence if at all possible." Zaffrey stated, trying his best to forget the past.

"Well then what good are you?!" Robin snapped at him, "What can you do that won't just slow me down?!"

It was as if the old man's words suddenly clicked in his head and Zaffrey recalled the use of his staff. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The crystal on top started to glow, and Robin was bathed in light. The areas where Robin was wounded started to heal and his eyes went wide. For a second time that day, Robin was at a loss for words.

"You…you can heal…and, I feel stronger somehow?" He managed to spit out. "Are you transferring aura to me?"

Zaffrey's eyes reopened. "I have a large amount of aura that I can use to heal and strengthen my allies."

"You can run support then. I'll take care of baddies; you cover me; got it?" Robin sounded tactical, and the distant look in his eyes told Zaffrey that he was running battles in his head already.

"Sounds good to me." Zaffrey's calm face suddenly broke into a grin, "Although, I suggest we make camp; the sun will burn out and the darkness will rise." Robin probably wouldn't have recognized the sarcasm in his tone. _An old saying of The Hand, _Zaffrey recalled.

Robin's head whipped around, only now noticing the slowly dying light. "Shiiiiit, I completely lost track of time! Right we'll set up camp around the Pedestal of Lies." He shot a dirty look at the marble, as if it would somehow feel guilty. "I'll go out and hunt for food, so I'm trusting you to set up, alright?"

Zaffrey nodded.

Robin was just about to set off when he stopped, "Wait, I don't even know your name yet. My name is Robin Razza," He bowed, with a crooked smile.

Zaffrey returned the gesture, "My name is Zaffrey Grey, at your service."

* * *

"You know, for the life of me I can't call you Zaffrey…" Robin stated with a mouth full of food. "You need a cool nickname, like The Grey Giant, or Colossus." Zaffrey flinched at that one. "Or... whoa! Wait! I got it: Z" He nodded with a sloppy grin.

"Z? You are shortening my name to the letter Z?" Zaffrey questioned.

"Yeah man, doesn't that sound cool?!" Robin was bouncing with excitement. "I could be like: Yo, Z! Need support over here! Or: Hey Z, two baddies, 9 o'clock!"

With the butchering of his already changed name, Zaffrey heaved a sigh. _I'm sure it'll grow on me,_ he thought and cracked a slight grin.

Robin settled down, laid back and stared at the stars. "Ya know, if I found you out here, I wonder if I can find one more…" he mused wistfully. "See, the reason I'm out in this death trap is because my partner Nox and I were caught during this job right? And well instead of going straight to jail, this guy Ozpin showed up right? And he was all: 'Blah blah blah, go to jail or join my school, blah blah blah, dangerous initiation, blah blah blah, pretty much a death sentence, blah."

He finished his half-decent impression of the old man. "So I was wondering right, what if Nox got the same offer? What if he's somewhere in the forest? Although if he is, this should be a cake walk for ol' Noxy. He loves forests, he could probably find the artifact in ten minutes flat." It was a joking, yet wistful tone. It was clear to Zaffrey that Robin dearly missed his friend.

Zaffrey's thoughts wandered away from the conversation and to his own past.

To all the murder.

All the pain and suffering he caused.

The death caused by his hand.

His apparent enjoyment of destruction.

His gleeful laughs as he tore apart families.

_It was a different time, you were a different person! _Zaffrey attempted to convince himself,

_But it was still _you_,_ Zarko responded as if there was another voice in his own head. _Your hands, your body._

_No! No! I'm done with murder! I'm done with your violence! _Zaffrey was visibly shaking and Robin quickly took notice.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey Z, look at me, look here!" His face was full of concern. He crouched next to him, "Hey, what's wrong man, I can help you." He brandished a smile.

Zaffrey did all he could to look at the man. _Why is he trying to help? How could he not tell that I am a monster! _Zaffrey was on the verge of tears and shaking, which looked odd on an 8 foot tall titan.

Robin pulled Zaffrey into a hug. "It's all right man, I gotcha. Nothing can harm you now." His voice was soothing as Zaffrey wept into his shoulder.

_Kill him, _Zarko's voice suddenly echoed through his head. _Snap his neck, choke him out, kill him…_Zaffrey clenched his jaw. His muscles tightened.

"Uh, Z? Too tight buddy," Robin muffled out.

Zaffrey continued to tighten his muscles slowly.

"Guy? Getting hard…to breathe here…" Robin squeaked.

Zaffrey paused, then suddenly let him go. Robin coughed on the ground as Zaffrey took a few shaky breaths. He looked at Robin with tear stained eyes and a smile. "Thank you, Robin Razza, you have saved my life yet again."_ And also your own, _he thought.

Robin was still coughing, "Yeah man whatever I can do to help a friend," he spluttered out inbetween fits of coughing. He beamed up at Zaffrey as his coughing subsided.

_Friend…?_

"Listen you get your rest; I'll keep watch for tonight." Robin instructed, letting out one last cough.

Zaffrey's body instinctively obeyed; his eyelids felt heavy and sleep seemed nice, but glow on Robin's belt and in his pocket distracted him. A howl could be heard in the distance and Robin grinned.

"Sleep easy, big guy; I got your back."

Robin set off and Zaffrey passed out.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Zaffrey moved among the trees at an incredible speed. For such a big guy, he could sure move around quickly. Robin was asleep on his back and he didn't have the heart to wake the guy.

The previous night had been a devastating one. Every few hours Robin would wake him up and Zaffrey had to heal him, so it didn't take long before they both were exhausted. Dawn couldn't arrive fast enough. It seemed like an eternity, but eventually the night ended and the sun peaked in the east.

They started moving west away from the Pedestal of Lies, towards…well…nowhere in particular. They had no idea where the artifact was, and if the forest was giving any hints to its location, Zaffrey and Robin couldn't figure them out.

Robin originally wanted to search with Zaffrey; among the trees he could get a better view of their surroundings and possibly find any landmarks that may point to a location. But Zaffrey insisted he rest, as he was up all night and was obviously exhausted. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually Robin relented and took to sleep on Zaffrey's back.

Gunshots came from nearby and Zaffrey froze in place. Grimm couldn't fire a gun—and even if they could, they probably couldn't fire it very well—so naturally he propped Robin in a nearby high tree and continued on to find the source of the gunshot. Robin needed his sleep and Zaffrey could _probably _handle it on his own.

It didn't take long to reach the hill. It was a decent sized hill surrounded by a ring of trees. Small vegetation could be seen growing, and a few bushes dotted the landscape.

On top of the hill stood a small kid, about six feet in height, with a long brown coat and light brown skin. The sides of his head were shaven, while on top were dark brown curls that looked as if he tried to tame them by cutting them short, yet still held their stubbornness. He dressed as though he belonged elsewhere, perhaps from another kingdom.

As he turned to face Zaffrey, the rest of his ensemble could be seen: along with the brown coat, he wore a beige-white undershirt with a dark brown vest and a small red scarf around his neck. Along his chest was a bandolier with multiple pouches and ammunition. His pants appeared to be made out of some thick material, and he wore dark brown combat shoes. _This guy sure loves the colour brown, I wouldn't be surprised if his name was brown honestly, _Zaffrey joked to himself.

In each hands he held a pistol that looked almost identical to the other, and around his feet laid a half a dozen dead nevermore; riddled with bullets they resembled a certain type of cheese.

The kid's pistol was raised before he even made eye contact. "See, I already got one sneaky thief on my hands, I don't need another," He sized up Zaffrey as he walked towards him, "Although I don't think someone of your size could ever be considered 'sneaky'." His voice held a hint of a foreign accent, and the cheeky grin on his face held a hint of cockiness.

_He does realize that I could probably crush him right?_ Zaffrey thought, _I mean, not that I would… _"I mean no harm," He put down his staff, "I only mean to pass by and find an artifact for a friend, things don't have turn ugly here"

The little brown man's smile held, "Yeah... _But_… I already have a deal with another person to find the artifact, so it seems we are at odds here." He pulled the hammer on the pistol back. "I can't see you off with that artifact so I'm going to have to kill you here." The confidence in his eyes didn't waver in the face of such a giant.

_He must know how to fight if he isn't sacred by my size…_ Zaffrey thought. _Things look like they could get ugly. I don't know if I can get to Robin and outrun this guy with him on my back…_

_Fight… _Zarko's voice once again echoed in his head, _Kill him…snap his bones like twigs, wipe that cocky grin right off his face…_

"What's wrong, big guy?" The little man mockingly called, "Too scared to fight back, or are you just too slow to process what I'm saying? Here I'll spell it out for you slowly so you can understand: Artifact. Mine. You. Die. Here." He said each word slowly and with hand gestures, as if Zaffrey was a little child.

_You just gunna take that?_ Zarko's voice was getting louder each time this kid spoke, _Splatter his brains across the ground…_

It was all getting too tempting to break his vow of non-violence…

"Look I'll even give you a fair chance, I'll kill you with one arm behind my back" The little man did as he said, "Come on, big guy, fight me. Fight like the titan you should be"

Titan…TITAN?!

_Just let me come back for a bit, _Zarko proudly told him in his mind, he could just imagine him saying this with a wink.

Zaffrey yielded.

Zarko kicked the little aggressor back fifty feet straight onto his back. Although dazed he maintained the wild grin on his face. "There you go, you giant freak, that's more like it"

He was back on his feet in an instant, firing his pistols with sharp accuracy. This had no effect on Zarko whatsoever, as he used the massive amounts of aura he had to swat away the bullets like flies, while in an instant he closed the gap between them. With awesome speed, he punched the little brown man clear through two trees with the sound of bones crunching as he made contact with his ribcage.

Despite taking out two trees with his back, he held the front where the punch connected. His smile faded ever so slightly, "It's not often I have to use _this_ ammo on lumbering idiots like you…" He reached into the pouch on his bandolier and loaded his pistols with a peculiar coloured bullets.

Zarko charged with incredible speed, the little man leapt into the trees as he tumbled through. He fired a round at the charging giants back. Zarko side-stepped, but was caught in the explosion of the round hitting the ground near his feet.

Zarko was thrown onto his side, as the little man jumped to a branch above him, "Sayonara, biotch!" He aimed his gun at his downed opponent and fired.

At that moment, Zarko kicked the trunk of the tree, completely destroying it, and sending the little man tumbling to the ground and his shot skewed upwards. Rolling to avoid the falling tree, Zarko got to his feet, lifting the little man by his neck.

_That's it... Time to crush this little prick. _Zarko smiled madly, a crazed look in his eye.

The little man clawed at his hand as Zarko slowly tightened his grip.

_This is wrong, _Zaffrey returned. _Stop it you're going to kill him!_

_That's the point, _Zarko scoffed, _I'm going to kill this little man, and then I'm going to kill your friend._

_You won't get away with this, _Zaffrey held on. _I won't let you!_

The grip on the little man's neck lessened.

_Stop it, what are you doing!? _Zarko barked in his head.

At that moment, an arrow pierced the tree next to his left eye. Another small man, dressed in simple cotton grey's crouched on a distant tree branch.

"That was you're one warning shot!" He called. "Let him go in the next ten seconds or else the next shot will go through your skull!"


End file.
